


wait

by katierosefun



Series: Whumptober [Clone Wars] [1]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Explosions, Gen, Hurt Ahsoka Tano, Hurt Anakin Skywalker, Hurt Obi-Wan Kenobi, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Ahsoka Tano, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-15 12:35:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20866322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katierosefun/pseuds/katierosefun
Summary: “Master,” Ahsoka started, feeling her chest tighten, “you have to calm—”“I am calm!” Anakin said, but he wasn’t looking at Ahsoka. “He just has to—”“Master.” Ahsoka laid a hand on Anakin’s arm, and Anakin slumped forward, his chest heaving. “The others are waiting for us. They’ll have to know that something’s wrong if we don’t come back soon. They’ll have to send their own scouts to come and meet us. And then they’ll get help.”Anakin lifted his head. “Obi-Wan might not have that long.” His voice was dull, flat to even Ahsoka.“That’s the best choice we have,” Ahsoka said. “Master, look at yourself. You can’t climb down. I can’t.” Her voice broke. “Staying here and waiting is our best option. I know you don’t want to,” she added as Anakin looked away, “but there’s not much else we can do. What if we end up hurting Master Kenobi even more? What then?”[A mission goes wrong, and Obi-Wan is hurt. Ahsoka realizes something.]





	wait

“So…remind me again why this was a good idea?” Ahsoka heard her master huff from behind her. If she was being honest, Ahsoka probably would have started complaining herself, but the look that Obi-Wan tossed down at Anakin made her glad that she had kept her mouth shut.

“Unless you’d like to be caught right away by the Separatists, I suggest staying to this plan,” Obi-Wan replied, although Ahsoka heard the slight strain in the older man’s voice as he reached for the next hold in the rocks above hi. Ahsoka herself leaned back slightly to examine the rest of the rock wall they needed to scale. She estimated at least a few more minutes of climbing before they could get to the Separatist base. Just a communication center, she had been told. Nothing too big, but Ahsoka wished that the center had just been a little closer to the ground.

“We have jet packs,” Anakin pointed out from below.

“Which are noisy,” Obi-Wan replied.

“Grappling hooks.”

Obi-Wan huffed out a laugh. “And would they reach the top of this ledge, do you think?”

After a beat of silence, Anakin relented. “Fine,” he grumbled, to which this time, Ahsoka managed to let out a small laugh in unison with Obi-Wan.

“Your Padawan doesn’t seem to mind the climb,” Obi-Wan noted, and though he didn’t turn around, Ahsoka could hear the smile in his voice. Ahsoka peered down at Anakin, who only scowled. “I’m starting to think that Ahsoka might be more patient than you.”

“That’s only because you’ve never caught her on a bad day,” Anakin grumbled. eE waved a hand up at Ahsoka. “Don’t look all smug.”

“Does this hurt your ego, Master?” Ahsoka asked lightly, moving up another bit of the rock wall.

“Definitely not,” Anakin scoffed. As he hoisted himself up another length of the rock, he added, “Climb.”

“Will do,” Ahsoka replied, smiling to herself. Inch by inch, she climbed after Obi-Wan. Eventually, Anakin stopped grumbling, and the three lapsed into a steady silence as they got closer and closer to the ledge. By the time they were finally at the edge of the cliff, Obi-Wan swung himself to the side so that Ahsoka and Anakin could climb up beside him.

Ahsoka lifted her head just barely above the ledge, making out the communication center under the glow of the rising sun. Droids clunked past, but they were too far away to see that Ahsoka, Anakin, and Obi-Wan were within radius of the center. Ahsoka lowered her head from the ledge. “I’m taking the left?” she asked, though she already expected Obi-Wan’s nod. The three had gone over the plan just earlier that morning.

“Should be easy,” Anakin said from Ahsoka’s other side. “You’re not nervous, are you, Snips?”

Ahsoka smirked at Anakin. “Not on your life,” she replied.

“Bold statement,” Anakin said loftily.

“If you two are quite finished,” Obi-Wan said as Ahsoka opened her mouth for another retort, “we have a mission to complete.”

“Of course, Master,” Anakin said, switching over into a more serious tone. But the sly look in his eyes said differently about Anakin’s (seemingly nonexistent) concerns. “I’m taking the right. Those droids won’t know what hit them. And you’ll be—”

“Hopefully able to break in through the roof,” Obi-Wan said, pointing up at the top of the communication center. “If our intel is correct, I’ll land right into the control room.”

“And we’ll join you,” Anakin finished.

“If you’re able to get down all those droids in time,” Obi-Wan added.

Anakin waved a hand. “We’ll get them in time,” he replied. “You just focus on your own part of the mission.” , and sh

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes, but there was no malice or real annoyance in the gesture. “I’ll be waiting or you, he said, and with that blessing, Anakin and Ahsoka leapt up from the ledge.

As always, Ahsoka felt the rush of adrenaline course through her as she landed in front of the battle droids. A small smile curled over her lips as she activated her saber, and with a flash of green, the first droid went down. She knew how some of the other younglings in her training days had panicked at the idea of having to face actual battle droids, but Ahsoka hadn’t ever been bothered by that. Just metal and circuits, after all—there was nothing to be afraid of. And, watching Anakin out of the corner of her eye, Ahsoka knew that her master wasn’t afraid of them, either.

Ahsoka ducked past a droid and cutting it down from behind, called out, “You better hurry up, Master! I’ll finish them off before you!”

As Anakin cut down a droid, he shouted back, “Don’t count on it!”

Ahsoka grinned, but she focused on the rest of the droids. She only just deflected a bullet when she heard her master call, “You done playing around?”

Ahsoka watched the droid fall before her and turned around to see Anakin already standing by the doors. He jerked his head forward, and Ahsoka ran up to him. “To be fair,” she said as the doors slid open, “you had less droids on your side.”

A corner of Anakin’s lips twitched. “Don’t make excuses,” he said, walking through the entryway. “Let’s hope Obi-Wan took care of any uglies that were stuck inside.”

Ahsoka followed Anakin, and sure enough, they found Obi-Wan standing at the center of the control room, droid parts scattered around him.

“Well, took you long enough,” Obi-Wan said, shutting down his light saber. “Help me with the rest.”

“A thank you would be nice,” Anakin grumbled, but still, both Ahsoka and he went around the room, hacking away at the remaining panels. Ahsoka watched as the lights around them flickered slowly from being a bright red to a dull grey, and by the time, they were all finished, the sun had fully risen. Ahsoka shielded her eyes from the rays as they came bleeding through the windows. A part of her, however, couldn’t help but to marvel at the sudden brightness. From the windows, she could make out the other mountains and rock ledges surrounding the communication center, and under different circumstances, Ahsoka would have almost appreciated the grand scale of the planet if it wasn’t for the fact that the rest of the communication center needed to be shut down.

“Well,” she heard Obi-Wan say, “I suppose that’s that.”

“Great,” Anakin said, shutting down his light saber. “Let’s get out of here.”

“I didn’t think you’d be looking forward to the climb back down,” Obi-Wan said, amused.

As Anakin groaned, Ahsoka pointed out, “Going down is always easier than going up.”

“True,” Obi-Wan agreed. “Although I’m sure Anakin has other thoughts.”

“For once,” Anakin muttered as they all walked out of the center, “I’d like for you two to not team up on me. Is that too much to ask?”

Ahsoka opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, the entire world erupted into flames and metal and smoke. Ahsoka felt herself being flung forward, and a small, wild part of her thought that she was going to topple right over the ledge, but just before she could fall, something caught her by the ankle, and she hit the ground with a thud. For a moment, Ahsoka couldn’t breathe against the ground, and all she could do was throw her arms over her head as the planet vibrated beneath her.

Somewhere in the distance, Ahsoka heard the shriek of metal against metal, and then she heard a loud, sickening crunch that made Ahsoka want to tighten her arms around her head. Her stomach lurched, and she swallowed dirt from the ground as she sucked in a quick, trembling breath.

And then she heard a sharp, pained cry from somewhere behind her, and that was what forced Ahsoka to lift her head.

_Anakin_, she thought, her whole body turning cold. _Obi-Wan_.

Ahsoka slowly pushed herself up to her feet, rocks slipping around her ankles as she pushed herself away from the edge of the cliff. She shivered as a sharp wind blew past her. She peered down over the ledge, feeling another lurch in her stomach at the thought of having almost plunged to her death just a few moments ago.

Ahsoka shuddered and turned away from the ledge. She would have to think about how everyone was going to get down later—_everyone_—

Ahsoka whipped around_. _The communication center—or what remained of the communication center—had gone up in blue and red crackling flames, while chunks of debris lay scattered all around the edges of the cliff. Ahsoka imagined that some parts had flown over the edge of the cliff and were probably sitting crashed against the ground, cracked all over.

Ahsoka took one shaky step forward. Two.

“Master?” she whispered. Her throat was dry. She licked her lips, trying to return some moisture to her mouth, but the soil and dust flying up around her seemed to prevent her from doing anything of the sort. “_Master_,” she repeated. “Master Kenobi?”

Then, from somewhere to Ahsoka’s left, she heard a low groan.

Ahsoka’s heart jumped to her throat as she made out Anakin’s form sprawled across the ground. Ahsoka hurried forward just in time as Anakin pushed himself up into a semi-sitting position. “Hey, Snips,” Anakin said, his eyes just barely focusing on Ahsoka’s face. “Didn’t ‘spect that.”

“Are you alright?” Ahsoka asked, her eyes frantically searching Anakin’s face. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Don’t think so,” Anakin mumbled. He tried pushing himself up further but collapsed back on his elbows with a grunt.

“Careful,” Ahsoka said, grabbing Anakin’s shoulder.

“’m trying,” Anakin replied, but his voice sounded too heavy and thick for Ahsoka for comfort. He pressed the heel of his palm against his eyes and, looking back up at Ahsoka, asked, “You alright?”

“I’m the one who’s standing,” Ahsoka replied, trying to make her voice light, but her heart was racing too fast for the rest of her.

“Good,” Anakin mumbled, nodding his head wearily. “Standing’s…good.” He lolled his head back. “Where’s Obi-Wan? Is he alright?”

Ahsoka’s heart sank. “I don’t know,” she replied, and at that, Anakin’s eyes seemed to clear with just the slightest bit of clarity—or panic, Ahsoka decided as Anakin looked up at her.

“We gotta find him,” Anakin said, pushing himself forward by the elbows. “Help me up—we gotta—”

“Hold on,” Ahsoka said quickly, pushing Anakin back gently. “You stay here. I don’t think walking around is a good idea.”

“No,” Anakin mumbled, shaking his head, and to both Ahsoka’s disbelief and awe, her master pushed himself up. He swayed briefly on his feet, but Ahsoka stood up and offered her arm.

“Lean,” she instructed, and when Anakin shook his head, Ahsoka scowled. “You’re not going to be able to go anywhere if you don’t listen,” she said. “_Lean_.”

Maybe Anakin was just tired, or maybe Ahsoka sounded harsh enough, but Anakin obliged the second time around. Ahsoka grunted under her master’s weight, but she walked forward with him. Ahsoka tried to lift her head to look for Obi-Wan, but with Anakin leaning against her, doing such was difficult. She wasn’t sure how much she trusted Anakin to look out reliably, but as she moved forward, Ahsoka could only hope that her master was awake enough to focus.

“He’ll be okay,” Ahsoka said, though she wasn’t sure if she was saying that more for herself or for her master. “Obi-Wan’s been through worse.” She looked up at Anakin, but her words didn’t seem to register to her master. Anakin only stared straight ahead, his face a storm that Ahsoka was sure had nothing to do with his own pain.

Ahsoka turned back around. She focused on taking one step at a time, then she focused on her master’s steps—or his uneven steps. She focused on the clearing smoke, focused on the number of flames slowly dying around them, focused on the droid parts tottering nearby the edge.

“He’s got to be here,” Anakin mumbled, and Ahsoka almost jumped at the sudden sound from her master. “He has to be.” He craned his neck. “He couldn’t have…” And Ahsoka thought about how she herself had almost gone off over the edge of the cliff.

“He wouldn’t have,” she said quickly.

Anakin finally seemed to focus on Ahsoka. Then, after a moment, he said quietly, “You’re hurt, too.”

Ahsoka followed her master’s eyes to her forehead. She gingerly lifted her fingers to her forehead and winced at the feeling of scraped skin. “It’s nothing,” she said, although even as she dropped her hand, her head suddenly felt light. “It’s not an emergency. Let’s just focus on finding Master Kenobi.”

Anakin huffed out a breath that might have either been a sigh or a laugh. “This was supposed to be easy.”

“Yeah,” Ahsoka agreed, trying for a smile. “Whoops.”

Anakin snorted—a somewhat cheerful sound that seemed to ring out against the clearing smoke. “Whoops,” he echoed. “Obi-Wan probably can’t wait to tell us that he told us so.”

Ahsoka smiled. “He’ll be itching to say it,” she replied. She squeezed her master’s side. “Let’s go see if he’ll say it when we find him.”

\--

But Obi-Wan wasn’t waiting to say anything when Ahsoka and Anakin finally found him. Ahsoka heard Anakin’s short, strangled gasp first, and then he was slipping out of Ahsoka’s grip, half running, half stumbling after Obi-Wan’s crumbled body.

Ahsoka herself was barely aware of her feet moving towards Obi-Wan—all she knew was that one moment, she was staring after her master, and in the next moment, she was shuffling forward and dropping to her knees beside Obi-Wan.

Blood ran down the corner of Obi-Wan’s lips, and more blood clotted through his gingery hair. Smoke and ash streaked Obi-Wan’s face, and when Anakin shook the man, he didn’t wake. He didn’t even stir, just moved with Anakin’s shaking hand.

“Master,” Anakin whispered. “Wake up. Obi-Wan.”

“He’s still breathing,” Ahsoka said, lifting her eyes up to Anakin’s. “We can still get him help.” But even as she said those words, she felt something inside of her collapse. The idea of scaling down the cliff all alone sounded hard enough, but how would they carry Obi-Wan down with them? Anakin didn’t seem to be in any shape to walk, let alone climb.

“No,” Anakin said abruptly. “We have to wake him up. He’s got to…” He reached forward and shook Obi-Wan again. “Come on, Obi-Wan. You can’t do this right now. _Come on._” Anakin’s voice became more and more desperate, his hands shaking harder with each time he called Obi-Wan’s name. “_Wake up_.”

“Master,” Ahsoka started, feeling her chest tighten, “you have to calm—”

“I _am _calm!” Anakin said, but he wasn’t looking at Ahsoka. “He just has to—”

“Master.” Ahsoka laid a hand on Anakin’s arm, and Anakin slumped forward, his chest heaving. “The others are waiting for us. They’ll have to know that something’s wrong if we don’t come back soon. They’ll have to send their own scouts to come and meet us. And then they’ll get help.”

Anakin lifted his head. “Obi-Wan might not have that long.” His voice was dull, flat to even Ahsoka.

“That’s the best choice we have,” Ahsoka said. “Master, look at yourself. You can’t climb down. I can’t.” Her voice broke. “Staying here and waiting is our best option. I know you don’t _want to_,” she added as Anakin looked away, “but there’s not much else we can do. What if we end up hurting Master Kenobi even more? What then?”

Anakin looked away, his jaws locked.

“Master,” Ahsoka whispered. Pleading. Begging. “We can’t do anything else.”

Anakin swallowed. “So we’ll wait.”

“So we’ll wait.”

\--

Night came, and despite Ahsoka protesting, Anakin insisted that he would take the first watch.

“You’re more hurt than I am,” Ahsoka argued.

“But you’ve been doing more of the heavy lifting,” Anakin replied. “Get some rest. You need it.”

Ahsoka opened her mouth to protest, but the simple truth was that she _was _tired. The lightness in her head had morphed into a sharp, dull pain that Ahsoka was sure had something to do with the fact that she was thirsty and hungry and, of course, tired. Still, it wasn’t until Anakin pressed a hand against Ahsoka’s shoulder did she finally relent to sinking down to the ground.

Only Ahsoka couldn’t close her eyes right away, not with her master staring off at the edge of the cliff all alone.

In a small voice, she asked, “Are you worried about Master Kenobi?”

“What do you think?” Anakin asked. And then, with a sigh, he said, “Sorry—I didn’t mean to sound—”

“It’s fine,” Ahsoka replied. She propped herself up on her elbows. “It’s just…I’m worried too.”

Ahsoka couldn’t make out her master’s expression, but the slow slump in his shoulders was all Ahsoka needed to see to know that he was having his own doubts.

“He needs to be okay,” Anakin said at last. “He has to.” And the way he said those words, Ahsoka felt the slightest flicker of confusion. She had been told again and again in her training as a youngling that a Jedi should not make attachments, and yet, there have been so many occasions when she had watched her master and realized that there were times when his own concerns for people seemed to flare burn and bright. Like now.

But Ahsoka only heard herself say, “He will be.”

Anakin looked over at her, and Ahsoka managed a small smile, although she felt like the rest of herself wasn’t smiling along. “He still needs to tell us that he was right.”

Anakin smiled back, and Ahsoka wondered if he was smiling with all his energy, too.

“That’s right,” he said with a soft laugh. “He’d hate to miss that chance.” Anakin nodded over at Ahsoka. “But enough of that. Get some sleep.”

Ahsoka nodded and settled back to the ground. But as she rolled over on her side, she couldn’t help but still wonder on the way Anakin sounded so desperate about Obi-Wan.

But then she remembered the fear she felt at the prospect of Anakin getting hurt, and she felt her own flicker of guilt. How could she judge her master when she herself had been so worried about seeing the people around her hurt?

Ahsoka closed her eyes and willed sleep to take those thoughts away first.

\--

Ahsoka woke up to the sound of shouting and storming boots.

“They’re here!” she heard a voice shout, and when Ahsoka opened her eyes, she made out the shape and color of medic uniforms before they rushed forward. Ahsoka heard her master’s voice somewhere in the background, and when she twisted around, she found with a rush of relief that Obi-Wan was already being placed on a stretcher.

“You said that you’d wake me up for the second watch,” Ahsoka said when she finally found her master.

“You were tired,” Anakin said with a shrug. He cleared his throat. “And I figured you deserved the rest, especially since you were right. About waiting.”

Despite the fact that Ahsoka’s head was still pounding, she couldn’t help but feel a real smile spread across her face. “Did you just tell me that I was right about something?” she asked. “You know Master Kenobi’s going to tell you about how he was right too, you know. Are you ready for that double serve on your ego?”

Ahsoka expected Anakin to roll his eyes, but his face only softened. “Given the circumstances,” he said, nodding towards the ship and the medics, “I think my ego can take this.” At Ahsoka’s surprised look, he pushed out an exaggerated sigh. “Come on, now,” he said, walking forward. “Let’s not keep anyone waiting.”

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while since I've written Clone Wars fanfic, but it's Whumptober season, and prompt #2 was 'explosions'. I may or may not try to write more whump for these three depending on my schedule and this month, but let's see what happens. 
> 
> As always, reviews/constructive crticisim/kudos are always welcome!


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